The present invention relates to an ink bottle set-up device, and more particularly, to an ink bottle set-up device for setting up an ink bottle having a positioning projection in a given position.
One typical example of an ink bottle is shown in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 8, an ink bottle 100 is made of plastic and comprises a cylindrical bottle body 101 internally filled with an ink, with a bottom wall having an ink discharging section 102 formed at a central position of the bottom wall. An outer periphery of the bottle body 101 is formed with three positioning ribs (positioning projections) 103 which extend along the length of the ink body 101, i.e., along an inserting direction of the ink bottle 100. The bottom wall of the bottle body 101 is also formed with an information indicating rib
In view of the present inventor, an ink bottle set-up device for which the ink bottle 100 is set up is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG.9 is a front view of the ink bottle set-up device wherein the ink bottle 100 is located in a set-up position, and FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view taken along line Xxe2x80x94X of FIG. 9. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, a bottle set-up body 105 is formed with a bottle set-up chamber 106, and a rib-guide recess 107 opening to the bottle set-up chamber 106 and extending in a direction along the inserting direction of the ink bottle 100. An innermost end of the bottle set-up chamber 106 has an ink receptor section 108 formed at a central position of the bottle set-up chamber 106. Also, the innermost end of the bottle set-up chamber 106 is formed with an information detecting sensor 109 in the vicinity of the ink receptor section 108 for detecting a bottle-in state, an ink color, etc.
With such a structure, the ink bottle 100 is inserted into the bottle set-up chamber 106 while the positioning ribs 103 of the ink bottle 100 are held in alignment with the rib-guide recess 107. During this inserting step, the positioning ribs 10 move along the rib-guide recess 107 such that the ink bottle 100 is inserted into the bottle set-up chamber 106 in a given rotated orientation. Finally, the bottle 100 is set up and the ink discharging section 102 is fitted to the sink receptor section 108, and the information indicating rib 104 is detected by the information detecting sensor 109.
That is, the positioning ribs 103 of the ink bottle 100 is aligned with the rib-guide recess 107 and, under this condition, the ink bottle 100 is inserted into the bottle set-up chamber 106 in the given rotated orientation. Owing to this inserting movement, it is possible for the information detecting sensor 109 to correctly detect necessary information from the ink bottle 100 and rotational movement of the ink bottle 100 is prevented from avoiding rupturing of the information detecting sensor 109 after the ink bottle 100 is set up in the given position.
In such an ink bottle set-up device, however, since it is possible for an ink bottle 100 with no positioning projections 103 to be inserted into the bottle set-up chamber 106 provided that the ink bottle 100 has a diameter substantially equal to that of the ink bottle formed with the positioning projections and the ink bottle 100 is allowed to rotate after the set-up condition of the ink bottle 100, it is appeared that the information detecting sensor 103 is influenced owing to undesirable rotation of the ink bottle 100.
Further, since the ink bottle 100 is made of plastic that is apt to swell owing to an inherent property of material absorbing ink, a consideration has been undertaken that the bottle set-up chamber 106 is designed to be slightly larger in diameter than the ink bottle 100. As a result, the ink bottle 100 is undesirably caused to be inserted into the bottle set-up chamber 106 even in a case where the positioning ribs 103 are out of alignment with the rib-guide recess 107. If the ink bottle 100 is inserted in an incorrectly rotated orientation, the ink discharging section 102 of the ink bottle 100 is set up in a wrong position displaced from the ink receptor section 108 of the bottle set-up body 105 and it may be difficult for the information detecting sensor 109 to correctly detect information of the ink bottle 100.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described investigation by the present inventor and has an object to provide an ink bottle set-up device which can overcome the above various phenomenon by preventing an incorrect ink bottle having no positioning provision from being erroneously inserted and by preventing a correct ink bottle with a positioning projection from being erroneously inserted in an incorrectly rotated orientation.
In the present invention, an ink bottle set-up device setting up an ink bottle having a positioning projection is provided with: a bottle set-up body having a bottle set-up chamber adapted to receive the ink bottle, and a projection-guide recess guiding the positioning projection; and an ink bottle erroneous set-up prevention mechanism including a projection detecting member detecting that the positioning projection is inserted into the projection-guide recess, and a bottle stopper member allowing the ink bottle to be inserted into the bottle set-up chamber, when the projection detecting member detects that the positioning projection is inserted into the projection-guide recess, for thereby enabling the ink bottle to be set up in a given position of the set-up chamber. The bottle stopper member prevents the ink bottle from being inserted into the bottle set-up chamber when the projection detecting member detects that the positioning projection is out of alignment with the protection-guide recess.
In other words, in the present invention, an ink bottle set-up device setting up an ink bottle having a positioning projection is provided with: a bottle set-up body having a bottle set-up chamber adapted to receive the ink bottle, and a projection-guide recess guiding the positioning projection; and an ink bottle erroneous set-up prevention mechanism including a projection detecting means for detecting that the positioning projection is inserted into the projection-guide recess, and a bottle stopper means for allowing the ink bottle to be inserted into the bottle set-up chamber, when the projection detecting means detects that the positioning projection is inserted into the projection-guide recess, for thereby enabling the ink bottle too be set up in a given position of the set- up chamber. The bottle stopper means prevents the ink bottle from being inserted into the bottle set-up chamber when the projection detecting means detects that the positioning projection is out of alignment with the projection-guide recess.
Other aspect and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.